“If you had been through what I have been through, you wouldn’t speed, you wouldn’t drink and drive. You just wouldn’t do it.”

That’s the message crash survivor Andrew Murray has for everybody who gets behind the wheel of a car.

The Dubbo man wasn’t expected to live after he suffered brain damage and other head injuries in a 150 kilometre-per-hour crash at Lake Cargelligo in December of 1995.

He defied medical expectations but spent the next few months learning how to walk, talk and even feed himself.

The accident left him with permanent memory loss, impaired peripheral vision that prevents him from getting a driver’s licence and other affiliated issues.

He has also been diagnosed with depression because of his situation.

He said the accident ruined his life, but he said it could have just as easily ruined the lives of others, and said that would have been even harder to live with.

“I was in town, I didn't get around the corner, I slid sideways for 150 metres, mounted this guy's front gutter, hit his Landcruiser, then somersaulted into his house,” Mr Murray said.

“It was very lucky the passenger was thrown from the car before we hit the house and he spent one night in hospital before being released.

“Thank God, because if I had killed someone I wouldn't be able to live with myself.”

Mr Murray was celebrating his last day of work at Lake Cargelligo before he was due to join the police academy.

He was drinking with a group of friends when one of them asked him to drive their girlfriend home. He got her home but the crash occurred and Andrew and his friend returned.

He has no recollection of the accident, but said crash investigators conservatively estimate he was travelling at 150 kilometres an hour.

Because of his condition, it was several hours before a blood analysis was conducted but even hours later, Mr Murray had a blood alcohol content of .110.

He was flown from Lake Cargelligo to Prince of Wales Hospital by a medical retrieval unit but there were doubts he would live.

Because of the severity of his injuries, it was at least two weeks before doctors became sure he would be able to pull through.

The accident took a massive toll, not just on Andrew, but on his whole family. His mother, father and brother all took time off while Andrew was in hospital in Sydney. Sadly, Andrew’s father passed away in 2003.